Goldie Morgentaler discovered a cache of letters in Polish exchanged between her mother, Chava Rosenfarb, and her childhood friend, Zenia Larsson, while sorting through old documents following her mother’s death in 2011. The letters chronicled their shared experiences in Auschwitz, a forced labor camp, and Bergen-Belsen over several decades. Both women, Holocaust survivors, embarked on new lives in different countries after the war.
Chava Rosenfarb, a Polish-born Jewish author, resettled in Canada, while Zenia Larsson moved to Sweden, where she later published a book based on their correspondence in 1972. The letters revealed not only the trauma the women endured but also glimpses of their post-war struggles and achievements. Goldie Morgentaler, daughter of Chava Rosenfarb and Dr. Henry Morgentaler, shared insights from the letters, highlighting both the emotional toll and resilience displayed by her mother and Larsson.
Morgentaler compiled the letters into a book titled “Letters from the Afterlife: The Post-Holocaust Correspondence of Chava Rosenfarb and Zenia Larsson” and will delve deeper into their story at an upcoming event hosted by Jewish London. The event aims to shed light on the lesser-known experiences of women in the Holocaust, emphasizing the importance of understanding diverse narratives from that era.
The discussion, led by Sonia Halpern from Western University, seeks to offer a personal connection to the lives of Rosenfarb and Larsson, delving into the complexities of their post-war existence. In a time marked by a rise in antisemitism, Morgentaler hopes the letters will serve as a reminder of the survivors’ endurance and adaptation to life after the Holocaust. The event, scheduled for November 13 as part of Holocaust Education Month, will provide a platform to explore these remarkable stories and honor the resilience of those who rebuilt their lives amidst profound loss and displacement.